Educational game apparatus



March 12, N, R, STERNE 2,193,745

EDUCATIONAL GAME APPARATUS 76 y A zd- Forman .7E erlze March 12, 1940.N, R STERNE 2,193,745 y EDUCATIONAL GAE APPARATUS Filed April 21, 193.82 Sheets-Sheet 2 EE@ EEEEE -JQ'Z/Z E 2g w Q-)E T Il, H [Q -)j gf Q mth@E N b mf @ES f J @Eg o m @EEE d g@ 1,1' @E g '3 Q0 "UEE-Q) @E mgm mg m@4f/l U mw 0 I mi@ V @E EQ-fp@ t@ a@ @E 2.7557 E/ql u @wwwa NaN/m17 27i/sine @sul f Patented Mar. 12, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE2,193,745 EDUCATIONAL GAME APPARATUS tion of New York Application April21, 1938, Serial No. 203,399 Y 9 Claims.

This invention is directed to a game apparatus particularly designed forthe playing of bridge whist wherein a player has the option of selectinga particular card from his own hand and a particular card from theexposed dummy hand for proposed play in a particular round or trick andthen determine, by instrumentalities forming part of the game, whetherthe card he has selected is the proper card for play in the par- 10ticular instance and is the same card that would be played by oneexpertly proficient in the game.

I'he primary object of the present invention is the provision of a gameapparatus in which thel player may have the option of selecting a cardaccording to his own judgment, then determining whether that card is theproper card to be played according to expert determination, and thenplaying the card determined by the expert to be the proper card, with aview thereby of permitting the player to determine by study or otherinformation Why the card selected by him to be played, When proving notto be the card determined by the expert as the proper card, is theimproper play and the reason why 25 the expert selects the particularindicated card in order that the player may, through this expert aid incomparison with the original card selection oi the player without theexpert aid, thus permitting the game apparatus to be pri- 30 inarily ofan instructive character to aord the expert knowledge and playing of thegame to be at the command of the player for comparison with his ownchoice of cards, with the result that the improved apparatus permits theplaying of v35 the game under continued expert instruction.

The essential object of the present invention is to simplify and improvethe detailed construction of game apparatus of this character,previousiy known and in use, with a view to reduc- 40 ing the cost ofthe game apparatus as a whole to insure its wider and more universal useand avoid structural disadvantages heretofore present in previouslysuggested game apparatus of this type.

45 The game apparatus is also designed for use in connection with thenew ve-suit bridge game which is a recent development. This gameinvolves the use of ve suits of thirteen cards each, four of the suitsbeing the conventional clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades and the fthsuit being marked by a cro-Wn or the representation of a crown andreferred to as royals or greens, the insignia being usually coloredgreen, In the playing of this game, the cards are presumed 55 to bedealt to the players in the usual manner,

each player receiving sixteen cards and the remaining card being exposedon the board and generally referred to as the kitty The bids are made inthe usual manner except, of course, the inclusion of the new suit inwhich bidding may be had, each player considering the kitty as apossible card in his hand during the bidding and the successful bidderhaving the option of discarding a card from his hand or dummys hand tobe substituted by the kitty which then i becomes a part of the hand fromwhich the discard is Withdrawn, such discard being placed face upward onthe board.

The improved game apparatus is designed with a view to playing the newgame, therebeing 15 provision, Ifor exposing the necessary playingcards, sixteen in each hand, a space on the board for the exposure ofthe kitty and a space on the board for the exposure of the dis-- cardedcard from the successful bidder or his 20 partner playing as dummy. Asthe sheet cooperating with the cards contains the representations of thecards which are in xed relation to each other on the particular sheet,the card exposure slots of the successful bidder and his partner,usually in this gamel vapparatus the South hand as the successful bidderand the North hand as his partner or dummy, each of these hands mustinclude the kitty and therefore must have seventeen card exposure slotsand the game board must also provide a 'slot through which the kitty iscontinuously exposed and a further slot through which the di card fromeither the South or North hand, in the case referred to, may be laterexposed. The sheets to be associated with the garne board of courseinclude representa-tions of the bids, the Sixteen cards for each hand,the kitty or seventeenth card in the hand of the successful bidder andhis partner, and the slides and numeral 40 indications for indicatingthe expert plays oi the particular hands.

'I'he invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the game apparatus, the removable indiciasheet being shown in position for use.

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.-. 50

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail section on the line 3 3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail section on the line 4 4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the game apparatus 55 showing the boardadapted for the playing of a newly developed bridge game.

The improved game apparatus in the particular form illustrated includesa base i formed with a depression 2 of a size to accurately receive theprinted playing sheet, the base having a narrow edge margin 4 on threesides. A playing board 5 is appropriately hinged or movably connected tothe base preferably through a hinge strip 6 secured to the board and tothe base at the edge of the board free of the margin 4.

Indicia sheets 1, preferably of a size to iit more or less accuratelyin` the depression 2 of the base, are provided. These sheets are printedto indicate on two sets of opposed parallel relations, playing cardindicia at 8, and inwardly of and in spaced relation with each line orplaying card indicia, the sheet is printed to provide bidding indicia 9.The sheet is further printed at IS with a notation to indicate whichhand of the playing card indicia 3 is the dealer and may also containadjacent this dealer indicia a notation as to whether or not either orboth sets of players are vulnerable.

In accordance with. the printed matter on the sheet, it will beunderstood from the description and from the illustration that the sheetis printed to present four whist hands in the playing card indicia,popularly referred to as North, South, arranged as partner hands, andEast, West arranged as partner hands. The bidding indicia are printed inaccordance with bids determined by the expert for the particular handwith which those bidding indicia are associated.

While the matters referred to are the essential features of the printedsheet, aside from the play indication to be later referred to, it will,of course, be appreciated that the sheet may and preferably does containinformation by the expert as to comment on the bidding and as to commenton the plays selected by the expert in the manner to be later dened.

Each printed sheet is preferably printed on opposite sides with, ofcourse, diiferent card layouts and different corresponding biddingindicia for each. card layout, and the invention contemplates theprovision of any number of such sheets, each different from the others,and readily insertible in the recess below the playing board, thusgiving to the user the privilege of playing an unlimited number oi'`different hands by change or reversal of the sheets to enable hisconstruction in the playing of the game to comprehend practically anyplaying condition which may be met in the playing of the game.

A highly important and essential indication of the printed sheet is themeans by which the user gains a knowledge of the proper card to play insuccessive trick sequences as such play lis determined by the expertplayer according to the layout of the card indicia of the respectivehands which are being played. These play indicating indicia consist ofdistinctive characters, preferably numbers, which are individuallyaligned in spaced relation with each playing card indicia of each hand.

These play determining characters are indicated at Il and determine bytheir sequence the sequence of play of the cards indicated in theplaying card indicia 8, such sequences or card playing order being, ofcourse, that resultant from the knowledge of the expert and indicatingthe order in which the expert play will determine the sequence of thecards in the successive tricks.

The playing board is, of course, to be folded down over the exposedprinted surface of the underlying sheet and this board is formed toenable the player to render Visible at will the playing card indicia,the play determining characters for each such indiciurn, and the biddingindicia. 'Io this end, the playing board is formed with narrow elongatedslots I2 having a width andr a length to expose through each slot oneparticular card representation of the playing card indicia and the playdetermining character which determines the sequence of play of thatcard.

is designed not only for playing the game but for playing the gameaccording to the expert determination of that play while at the sametime leaving within the option of the player the privi.- lege of firstselecting a particular play according to his own judgment and thereaftergaining a knowledge of what the expert would play in the particularinstance in order either to conrm the players original judgment or toindicate the error of that judgment.

In every instance in the playing of the game, the card actually playedin a particular trick is that indicated by the expert to be played andthe advantage of permitting the player an option of indicating first hisown judgment as to a play and then confirming or showing the error ofthat judgment by gaining a knowledge of what particular card the expertwould have played, enables the player to study the expert indication ofplay as compared with his own judgment and thus improve his knowledge ofthe game. To this end, the apparatus is a purely educational device inthe instruction of the game and while affording the player the initialexercise of his own judgment, the actual play is carried out accordingto the expert determination and the game thus actually played throughthe full thirteen tricks. In this particular the apparatus is a gameapparatus for the actual playing of the game of bridge whist but withthat playing determined by the expert.

The ordinary playing of the game, and in order to permit the player theoption of exercising his own judgment as to play in a particularinstance and thereafter confirm or show the error of that judgment bydetermining what the expert would have played, requires that the cardindicia of thc player, who is of course the declarer, and the cardindicia of his partner, who has the dummy hand, be exposed, and topermit the playing option of the player in each of such hands prior to aknowledge of what the expert would have played, it is necessary that theplay indicating characters indicating the expert play must be concealedwhen the card playing indicia are exposed.

To secure this result, a slide shutter I 5 is provided for each slot i2.Each of these shutters is preferably though not necessarily metallic andincludes a plate I6, the depending side edges of which are formed toprovide guides Il which intert with and slidably embrace the side edgesof the slot. The plate i8 which overlies the slot is provided with anupstanding selected a card, he moves the shutter i5 to determine whetherthis is the card the expert selects and if not, continues to move theshut ters until theexperts propel' selected card is determined, which isthe card which is played. The game is thus played, each trick takenbeing indicated on the trick indicator.

In the playing characteristic, the essential ieature resides in thecomplete option on the part of the declarer to select the card to beplayed from his own and his partners hands, rst according to his ownjudgment as to such play with the subsequent,determination of the properplay according to the expert. Thus, the game is completely played as inordinary bridge whist, the actual play being determined by the expertwith optional selection by the player to compare with that of theexpert.

An essential characteristic of the improvement is the provision ofsingle elongated slots each exposing the indicia representing a singleplaving card and the play indicating character determining the sequenceof that play in the game played with the hands as printed on the sheet,together with single short shutter cooperating with the side edges oieach slot and readily maw able lengthwise the slot and serving in anyone position to permit the exposure of only one of the two respectiveindicia, that et the card or that of the expert play indicatingcharacter.

The game board as adapted for the playing of the new game including vesuits is illustrated more particularly in Figure 5. Here theconstruction is substantially identical with the game board as designedfor the playing of the conven tional game and comprises a playing board25 preferably or rectangular outline and formed adjacent each edge witha series of spaced parallel uniform slots 2li of which, for reasonswhich will later appear, there are seventeen such slots for the playerindicated as the South player, seventeen such slots for the playerindicated as the North player, and sixteen such slots for each of theplayers indicated as East and West.

There are slots indicated at 2l controlled by slides 28 similar in allrespects to the slots i3 and slides i9 of the preferred form throughwhich the bidding as determined by the expert may be exposed. The boardis further formed with slots 29 through which th-e dealing hand isindicated and the fact as to the vulnerability of either set of partnersand the indicators 3B for marking the tricks taken by each side, all asin the preferred form.

The board for this type of game, however, includes a slot 3l throughwhich is exposed the extra card of the deck referred to as the kittyThis slot 3l may be arranged adjacent one of the bid indicating slots.rIhere is also provided a further slot 32 opposite, for example, the bidding slot of the opposing hand through which the discard remainsvisible. rIhis discard slut is provided with a slide 33 similar to theslides or shutters l5 of the form rst described. The card slots 26 haveshutters or slides 34 which, as in the preferred form, may be operatedas will later appear.

It is, of course, understood that the game board described is played inconjunction with a printed sheet on which appears the hands for eachplay er, the kitty and the discard, and with respect to the hands, thecards of which register with the slots 25, there is arranged inalignment with the card indications a number indicated at 35i for eachcard, the numbers being arranged in the order in which the expert wouldplay the cards of that hand in playing the game including the four handsmarked on the sheet.

As stated, in the new game the successful bidder, which for the purposeoi illustration is practically in every instance the one playing theSouth hand, has the privilege of discarding a card, after becoming thedeclarer, from his hand or from his partners hand, known as the dummy,and substituting for the discarded card the card exposed through theslot 3l and known as the kittyf This card, known as the kitty, isexposed at all times through the slot 3l and every player is supposed totake this card vinto consideration in his bidding because ii his biddingis successful and he becomes the declarer, he has the right tosubstitute the kitty for one of the cards of' his hand.

Of course, in the game apparatus the hands are played from a printedsheet and as the cards are not shiftable, provision must be made foriirst assuming one of the hands as the declarer. As the declarer has theright to substitute the kitty for any selected card in his or the dummyhand, both the declarers hand and the dummy hand must always include anadditional slot through which is exposed the kitty in order that thiscard (the kitty) will be in the proper hand, according to the expertdetermination, for the playing oi the game. The discard is also,following the experts selection, a card from either the declarers handor hispartners, the dummys, hand, and as the cards are printed on thesheet from which the game is played, this discard is printed on thesheet to be displayed through'the slot 32 but until the game is ready tobe played, the discard is covered by the slide 33.

The bidding of the game proceeds according to that in connection withthe four-suit game previously described. The bidding by the South hand,which for illustration is the declarer, is made by the player accordingto his own judgment and a knowledge of the cards of his hand includingthat of the kitty, and following a determination of the bid according tohis own judgment, the expert bid is determined by the movement of theslide 28 for the bid of the ex pert, as in the previously describedgame. When the final bid is reached, the declarer then determines as tothe discard from his own or from his partners hand and then moves thediscard slide 33 to determine the proper discard according to theexpert. The game is then played according to the general rules ofcontract bridge, the declarer having the option of determining the cardsto be played in sequence from his hand and from his partners or dummysexposed hand, and then determining by the number of the card to beplayed which is the proper card according to the expert.

It is, of course, to be remembered that in accordance with the gamepreviously described, the numbers corresponding to the cards in therespective hands are in sequence and determine by that sequence theproper card to be played according to the expert. However, as thedeclarers hand as Well as his partners or the dummy hand are exposed,declarer has the option of selecting the proper card to be playedaccording to his own judgment and then by moving the slide 34corresponding to that card, determine whether his judgment accords withthat of the expert and if in error, seek to nd a reason as to why hisplay is incorrect, because the card selected by the expert to be playedis always the card presumed to be played.

Of course, in the representation of the cards, the card bearing indiciavisible through the slots 2S each have the proper sequence playingnumeral or other character 35, with the slides 34 cooperating with thewalls of the slots 26 being of such length that either the number orcard indicia but not both may be exposed. The cards of the East and Westhands are selected and numbers exposed and merely for convenience theparts are arranged so that the numbers or other characters appear insequence. These cards are played as indicated by their numerals withoutselection on the part of the player.

The game board is associated with a sheet on which the card indicia,numbers and other details to be visible through the slots are marked,each sheet having different card groupings on the front and back andthere being, of course, any number of sheets associated with the gameapparatus for the playing of various hands. As in the preferred form,the game apparatus may include a base 36 recessed to receive the printedsheet and to which the game board 25 may be hinged to permit it to beraised to replace the sheets. the apparatus though obviously the sheetsmay be arranged beneath the board 25 proper without the use of the base.

It is to be particularly emphasized, however, that in both forms of theygame apparatus, the elemental purpose is one of instruction because,while the game is actually played trick by trick, the player has theoption of selecting the cards to be played by him on each trick from hishand and from his partners or dummys hand according to his own judgment,and then by moving the slide corresponding to the card which he hasselected. learn from the number corresponding to that card whether it isthe proper card to be played according to the expert. The player willvthus be instructed as to the error of his own judgment and as to theproper play and it is preferred that the sheets bearing the card andother indicia be printed giving reasons for the playing of theparticular cards in each instance to thereby utilize the game apparatusprimarily as a means for instructing the player in the proper play, thereasons for these proper plays and the ultimate advantage andimprovement in his playing of the game.

What is claimed to be new is:

l.. A game educational apparatus including a sheet having indiciathereon representing playing cards arranged in the form of hands, with acharacter adjacent and in line with. each playing card indicia toindicate the order of play of that particular card in the game, and aplaying board to overlie the sheet and formed with a series of elongatedslots, each of said slots being of a width and length to permit theexposure therethrough of a playing card indicium and a play indicatingcharacter peculiar to that playing card indicium, and a single shuttercooperating with the edges of the single slot and movable lengthwise theslot to expose either the playing card indicia or the play indicatingcharacter, the length of the slot relative to the length of the Theboard and base may form a part of` shutter being such that the shuttercannot cX- pose in any position both the playing card indicia and theplay indicating character.

2. A construction as dened in claim l, wherein the shutter comprises aplate, a finger operating projection extending above the plate with thepla-te having depending side portions formed as guides to slidablyembrace the longitudinal edges oi the slot with which the shuttercooperates.

3. A game educational apparatus including a sheet having indicia thereonrepresenting playing cards in ve suits and a game board through whichthe indicia of equally divided hands of all cards are visible with thegame board further provided with an opening through which a single cardis visible to he used in playing the game.

4. A game educational apparatus including a sheet on which cards inhands of sixteen cards in live suits are marked, with. the additionalmarking representing the final card of a deck after the cards formingthe hands are arranged, with the hands of one set of partners havingincluded the additional card, and a board through which the cards of allhands and the additional card may be exposed.

5. An educational game apparatus including a sheet on which the cards oflive suits of thirteen cards each are divided equally into hands' ofsixteen cards with the final card printed in each one of two partnershands and additionally printed spaced from all hands, a board to overliethe printed sheet and formed with slots to expose the cards of all handsat will and to continuously expose the additional card.

6. An educational game apparatus including a sheet on which the cards ofve suits of thirteen cards each are divided equally into hands ofsixteen cards with the nal card printed in each one of two partnershands and additionally printed spaced from all hands, a board to overliethe printed sheet and formed with slots to expose the cards of all handsat will and to continuously expose the additional card, the sheetmarkings for the cards or" each hand bearing characters indicating thesequence playing of the cards of that hand with a character common toeach card, and a slide for each slot whereby the card indicia or theplaying character may be independently but not simultaneously exposed.

7. A construction as defined in claim 5, wherein the slots for two ofthe hands include the play-- ing cards of that hand and the additionalcard and the slots of the remaining hands indicate the playing cardsonly.

8. A construction as deiined in claim 5, wherein the slots for the handsof the declarer and his partner are seventeen in number and the slotsfor the card indications of their opponents are sixteen in number.

9. A construction as dened in claim 5, wherein the sheet bearing thecard indicia is formed with a card representation indicating a discardfrom either the hand of the declarer or his partner, the board beingformed with a slot through which this discard may be visible, and meanscooperating with the slot to normally conceal the discard.

NORMAN R. STERNE.

